In recent years, the technology industry has seen an increase in the number of women working in IT roles, but despite this progress, women are still under-represented in the technology workforce.
At Apex, we are committed to closing the gender gap in IT. Our Account Management and Technical teams are a testament to this commitment, with a growing number of women taking on key roles including our Senior Account Manager, Kate; Head of Support Services, Laura; and recent joiner, Project Co-ordinator, Harriet.
This week, we caught up with one of our IT Engineers, Christy Roy, about how she got into IT as a career, her recommendations for women wanting to work in technology, and for businesses considering their cyber support and security.
Christy has been with Apex for over a year now, joining the team in March 2024, and works as an IT Engineer on our Service Desk. With a background in IT and a keen interest in cyber security, Christy brings a wealth of experience to the team to support our clients with their day-to-day support needs.
Hi, my name is Christy. I work as a Service Desk Analyst. My role is to help any clients who have any IT issues and solve their problems further.
In my role in Apex, I work as part of the Service Desk team and I basically ensure that the customers receive full support in whatever kind of small or large IT issue that they might be having and try and troubleshoot through that.
So, my uncle worked in IT, so he recommended that path to me first.
This field has a lot of room for growth and also there’s a lot of job opportunities as well. And it’s pretty much the future. So, this is where you want to be anyway. There’s always something new to learn, and not every day is going to be the same. I might come in one day and fix something and the next day is completely different. So you’re always dealing with a new case and refreshing your brain, and it’s a sense of accomplishment as well. But when you’ve got a harder task, once you finish it off, it’s like, ‘oh, I managed to do it!’.
I would say stay confident because it’s something I say to myself as well. It might be a bit overwhelming when you go into a room that’s male dominated who know so much more about technologies, but it’s all about experience. You won’t learn if you don’t make any mistakes and you might not know everything at the start, so give it time and you’ll realise there’s been a change in yourself. And be an example to other women to join as well.
And who doesn’t want to work from home once in a while!
During my degree I did a bit of white hacking, which is a form of ethical hacking. It just makes you realise how easy it is to get into someone’s network or possibly emails, or any kind of system. But it’s also important and fun at the same time because you’ve got to test it out and then you realise how to prevent that from happening in the future. So it’s always evolving.
I would say, hackers are trying to find cracks and loopholes in your security system constantly. So you need to stay on top of all that anyway. And especially with the help of AI, you might get an SMS and they look so real and you might just click on a link. But you have to be aware of what’s changing now.
I would definitely say research a lot regarding what would suit your business the best, and something that’s reliable. And check with your IT professional - and check with other IT professionals - to make sure it’s trustworthy as well. Check the reviews from people who have used it before. I would definitely recommend having some sort of cyber security software to protect your systems.
I would definitely say the people here are amazing. Everyone’s so friendly and you can just be open here. You don’t have to suffocate or anything. You can share any problems and they’ll help you. All customers are really fun and friendly as well.
If I had to pick out one customer in particular, there was a client that worked in America that worked for one of our clients and she had an issue with a third party software. So we went to the third party, but they didn’t know how to do it either. So I just tried a few things and she was giving me ideas as well, and it was just a fun atmosphere. She was just so bubbly and we were pretty much laughing through the whole process and helping each other out. But eventually we fixed it. I was kind of sad we fixed it because it was quite fun talking to her. So yeah, you meet loads of new people.
Apex Computing not only provides excellent IT support but also fosters an inclusive environment where women can thrive and advance their careers. By prioritising gender diversity, Apex Computing ensures that our team benefits from varied perspectives, driving innovation and growth.